Untamed
by whitetigrrrr
Summary: When Victoria Edwards receives a mysterious necklace from her late great grandmother she finds it's more than just an ugly amulet. Working as a lab assistant at Stark Industries during the day and being a vigilante at night isn't as easy as it sounds when you have to keep your vigilantism a secret from everyone. Bucky x Superhero!OFC
1. Prologue

**A/N** **: Sorry about the cringey summary but this is my first ever Marvel series so I hope you all enjoy. Also, there is no Bucky in the first part (it's just a prologue) and it will just establish the main idea of the story. I'm still writing the story so updates won't be super quick but I've written a few chapters so let's just hope you guys like it. xx**

* * *

The sunlight peeked through Victoria's bedroom window and woke her from her dreams. With a flutter of her lashes she opened her eyes. Adjusting them to the bright light streaking through, they focused on the digital clock sitting on her bedside table. A bolt of energy shot through her as soon as she registered the time in front of her eyes.

"Shit! I'm so screwed!" She yelled out as she scrambled out of her bed and made an attempt to make herself look presentable.

* * *

"How did it go?" She was greeted by her friend Erin as she walked into the coffee shop.

Her only response was a groan as she slumped down on the couch where Erin had situated herself on.

"Not great I'm guessing," Erin continued, her eyes glued to her laptop screen.

"Why do I always have to find a way to screw things up?" Victoria asked in self-pity.

"Yeah I know right. It's kind of like your superpower or something." Erin's sarcastic reply caused Victoria to glare at her which finally got her to look up from the bright light of her screen.

"Okay, I'm sorry," the blonde haired girl apologized, her expression softening, "I know how much you wanted that internship."

"Wanted it? I kind of need it if I'm ever planning on getting a decent job in my field."

"Oh please Victoria, you are way too smart for anyone to pass you up," Erin attempted to comfort her friend, "And even if they do, it's their loss. Plus, the internship is at a University, I'm one hundred percent sure you can do so much better."

Victoria sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right," she responded as she stood up making her way over to the counter. A drink was exactly what she needed right now even if it was just coffee.

"I _am_ right. I'm always right."

* * *

A blaring ringing sound woke her in the middle of the night.

"Whoever decided to call me at three in the morning needs a hard slap to the face," Victoria mumbled as she dragged herself out of bed.

"Hello?" She answered the phone groggily.

"Victoria _? It's your mother."_

"Mum? What the hell? Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?" She was slightly more awake now, partially because of the anger rising up in her.

" _I don't know how to tell you this Tor, but your great grandmother passed away Monday night."_

"Oh no?"

" _At least try to sound a bit more sympathetic Victoria."_

"I'm sorry but I didn't even know I had a great grandmother."

" _Well what did you think, your grandmother was made out of thin air?"_ She rolled her eyes at this remark. Yeah sure, she wasn't always the quickest person in the room but she wasn't stupid.

"So that's the only reason why you called me? To tell me that my great grandmother, who was unknown to me up until this point, died?"

" _Could you be a little more respectful, Victoria? And no, that isn't the only reason I called. Apparently she left you something in her will."_

"Wait, wait, hold on. You're telling me that my great grandmother, who I have never met or even knew existed, left _me_ something in her will."

" _Yes, sweethear-"_

"She's never met me. What kind of person writes their will and thinks to themselves, 'Oh remember that great granddaughter I've never even met, yeah her, whatever her name is, I think I'm going to leave something for her'?" She mocked.

" _Have some decency_ Victoria _."_

She huffed out, she could be real moody sometimes, "I'm sorry but you called me in the middle of the night, what did you expect?"

" _Oh that's right, I forgot about the time zone difference. Alright then I'll make it quick. I went to her will reading on Wednesday and picked up what she left you. I packaged it to you the same day so it should be at your apartment soon."_

"Okay great, but just out of curiosity, why couldn't you have texted me this information at I don't know, a reasonable time?"

" _I just wanted to tell you in advance just in case you thought the package had anthrax in it or something."_

"Anthrax, mum? Really?" Victoria loved her mother but sometimes she could be a bit daft.

" _You never know_ Victoria _."_

"Okay, bye mum."

" _By-_ "

* * *

"Package for Victoria?" The man at the door questioned when she opened the door. It was Saturday night and she and Erin were getting ready for a night out.

"Yeah that's me, thanks," she replied taking the package out of his hands and shutting the door.

"What is it?" Erin asked standing up from her place on the couch.

"It's the thing that my great grandma left me when she died," Victoria responded placing the box on the cluttered dining table.

"You had a great grandma?" Erin inquired as she examined the small box.

"Apparently," Victoria said, getting the box cutter and slicing the tape that had sealed the package shut.

"So?" Erin probed with curiosity, watching her friend's hands dig inside the box that had been filled with packing peanuts.

She finally managed to find the object and pull it out, a grimace settling on her face in an instant.

"Dammit, I was hoping it would be money," she whined, glaring at the object. It was a large, circular jade amulet with an extensively detailed drawing of a cat carved into it, which hung on a black string.

"It's definitely something a grandma would give," Erin stated as she walked away, clearly losing interest.

* * *

"I still can't believe you decided to wear that," the blonde haired girl scolded as the pair walked into the bar.

"What? I couldn't help it," Victoria defended herself, "It was calling me," she half-joked.

"Well don't expect to get lucky tonight," Erin responded, seating herself on one of the bar stools, Victoria following her lead.

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Bartender!" Erin called out, completely ignoring the comment.

* * *

Victoria was only slightly tipsy when the two left the bar but Erin had gotten so drunk she couldn't tell her left from her right.

"I didn't get as half as drunk as I would've liked to," Erin whined as the two made their way down the vacant street towards Tor's apartment block.

"Trust me Erin, you're going to thank me in the morning." She responded, rolling her eyes and dragging her blue eyed friend along.

As the two turned the corner, they walked straight into a man who was inconveniently standing in their way.

"What the hell?" Victoria yelled as he refused to let her pass, her eyes adjusting to the darkness, "Wait, Erin isn't that-"

"Yep." It was the creep that tried to hit on Erin at the bar. She had politely declined but he didn't take the rejection too well.

"Okay asshole, what do you want?" Deep down inside she knew that it probably wasn't the best idea to talk to him with such hostility but right now her anger was getting to her rational side.

"You two ladies shouldn't be out so late at night." Classic creeper pick-up.

"Alright, you know what-"

"Tor let's just go," Erin begged, pulling on her friend's arm. She complied thinking it was probably best to do so before she made things worse.

"I don't think so, sweetheart," he growled as the two turned around walking into two more men. Neither of them had expected for their night to go down like this. It was supposed to be fun. They were meant to get drunk and end up alive in Victoria's apartment, not dead in a dumpster behind some sleazy club, and considering the circumstances, she guessed that was probably the most likely scenario. The next few moments happened in a matter of seconds but to her it felt like more. Something inside her felt different as she realised the gravity of the situation.

The man in front of her made an attempt to grab Erin's wrist when she grabbed his hand and twisted it, hard. He yelled out in pain and she used this as an opening to knee him in the groin which followed with a straight kick to his face that sent him staggering backwards. She turned around to find the other two men approaching her and in a matter of seconds she had flipped one down to the ground and kicked the other one into the wall. She panted, staring at the wall not registering her actions.

"Victoria?" She heard a meek voice speak up from behind her. Victoria turned to see her friend and for a moment, Erin swore she saw something different in her eyes.

She snapped out of her trance, "Oh my gosh Erin, are she okay?" Victoria ran over to her, the worry in her voice was evident.

"What just happened?" Erin inquired. Only then did she realise what she had done. Something she didn't even think was humanly possible. At least not for her.

"Let's just get home, okay?" She prompted Erin, putting the thought behind her for the time being.

* * *

"I'm telling you it's the amulet, Victoria," Erin argued the same point as she had the last thirty times. The two of them had woken up at Victoria's apartment the morning after the fateful night and had immediately started arguing over her newfound abilities.

"And I'm telling you that it's not."

"Why not?"

"Because… Because why would my great grandmother give me a necklace that supposedly gives me crazy-amazing-action-hero powers."

"Well how else? And don't tell me you've had secret ninja skills for all these years."

"Sorry to break it to she Erin," she teased as she headed towards her small kitchenette, "Coffee?"

"Don't change the subject Victoria, we haven't finished talking about this," the blue-eyed girl snapped back at her friend as Victoria took out two large mugs from the cabinet.

"Yes, we hav-" Victoria was interrupted mid-sentence as one of the mugs slipped out of her hand and broke into pieces as it impacted the tiled floor.

"Shit!" She cursed as she knelt down to pick up the broken shards of glass.

"Careful," Erin warned approaching the dark haired girl to lend a hand. Not a second later, Victoria let out a sound of pain as she unintentionally sliced her palm open on one of the broken fragments.

"I told you to be careful…" Erin trailed off as her eyes caught attention of the amulet hanging on Victoria's neck.

"What?"

"Y-your necklace." Victoria looked down to find it emitting a bright green light and suddenly the sharp sting that was caused by the gash on her hand had suddenly stopped.

"Holy crap." She couldn't even begin to comprehend what she was witnessing.

"What? What?" Erin questioned in a panicked manner wondering as to why Victoria was so captivated by her own bleeding hand.

Victoria turned her hand to show the blonde woman her palm. It was no longer spurting out any blood and the slit that once was there was replaced by the flawless skin of her hand.

The amulet ceased to glow.

* * *

"So what did you want to show me?" Victoria asked, stepping into the apartment cautiously. Erin had texted her saying it was 'urgent' and that she 'needed to see this' but she knew her friend and she knew this never meant good news, but had decided to visit her friend's loft anyway. It had been a little over a month since the incident with the amulet had ensued and she had refused to touch the thing ever since the morning her hand healed up within seconds. Erin on the other hand, had been prompting her to put it back on and test out its limits but she wasn't having any of it. Basically, she was a wimp.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're here, you're _not_ gonna believe this." She heard Erin's exclamations coming from the bedroom as she approached it.

"I seriously dou-"

"Wait don't come in!" Erin called out, "I don't want you to ruin the surprise."

"Oh no," Victoria mumbled to herself, her voice barely audible. Nothing about this seemed good. She heard some scuffling in the other room before Erin walked out and stood under the doorframe. Her left arm was extended past the wall which was used to hide the object in her hands.

"Well?" Victoria pressed on.

Erin's smile was so wide, the corners of her mouth almost reached her eyes.

"Tada!" The blue eyed girl exclaimed as she brought the object in her hand into view. A few seconds passed before her smile slowly faded into a frown as Victoria emitted no reaction, "Well? What do you think?"

"I would tell you, but I'm not exactly sure what it is," Victoria responded with furrowed brows.

"It's a cat-suit," Erin whined, clearly disappointed by the lack of excitement shown by her friend.

"Okay, but why?" Victoria spoke in a very slow manner hoping that Erin would understand that she had zero clue as to what was going on.

"Well, all superheroes need suits, Victoria." That's when it clicked. This was about the stupid amulet again. Erin had tried pretty much everything trying to convince Victoria to test its limits. Bribery, blackmail, she even had a séance to try and contact Victoria's great grandmother by using an Ouija board. Victoria thought that was when Erin had hit her lowest point but she was obviously very wrong.

"I'm going home." With that, she turned around not wanting to hear another word of Erin's grand scheme. She had stood her ground before; she can do it again.

"Wait Victoria, just hear me out," Erin begged as she ran after her friend, dropping the cat-suit onto the couch.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid doing, Erin," she replied not slowing her pace.

"It's the least you could do after what happened on New Year's Eve." Erin had already used this excuse a million times but Victoria had never succumbed to the pressure, not once.

"Nice try but you already used this excuse on me," Victoria said turning around on her heels and crossing her arms, "I'm not putting on the amulet."

"I didn't ask you to put on the amulet. I asked you to hear me out." Well, she did have a point.

"Ugh, fine," Victoria said, dragging herself along to the couch where Erin had put the black cat-suit. She picked it up examining the fine details of it. It seemed to have been made out of some sort of spandex which stretched all the way down the legs and down to the fingertips which extended into small claws, similar to that of a house cat. Along the sides were large grey rips made to look like scratch marks.

"Where did you even get this thing?" Victoria asked, not completely sure how far Erin would go to convince her.

"Work."

"Work?" Erin worked at a fashion organisation which handled some of the clothes made by some major labels but Victoria never could've imagined Erin would find something like this.

"Yeah, it was a prototype that I found in the recycle bin, so I _recycled_ it. You like?"

"I… I don't really know what to think, Erin."

"Look, Victoria, don't you think it's a good idea? You can fight crime the right way, without any collateral damage." A slight crack could be heard in her voice as she said the last few words.

Victoria exhaled. Erin's brother. No wonder she was so invested in the amulet. Erin wanted justice for her brother's death during the battle of New York. She always blamed the Avengers for it. And Victoria wasn't going to lie to herself, the idea did sound tempting. Who didn't want to be a superhero growing up? And now she had the chance to be just that.

"How about I do you one better?"

* * *

Victoria heard the familiar sound of the door click open as she stepped inside the apartment, switching on the lights. She let out a sigh, exhaustion taking over her body and mind. It was hard to believe the day she had. Agreeing with Erin about becoming some sort of vigilante was not a conversation she thought she would ever have to be a part of. Not only had she decided that she would fight for the greater good, she also told Erin about a job offer at Stark Industries and said that she would take it. When she first got the opportunity, she had thought she would turn it down in support of Erin but now she was doing the exact opposite for the same cause. Although she had to admit, it was sort of brilliant. Infiltrate the Avengers to try to lead them off track. As they say, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Now, she had walked into her apartment with a black cat-suit in hand. As she studied it once more, she noticed something she hadn't seen before. A small black button that was resting in the fabric of the glove right on top of the forefinger. Curiosity took over her. She made an attempt to press the button but no avail. It appeared to have been embedded into the fabric. Seemed like the only way to press it was to push it up and out from the inside of the glove. Victoria thought about her options for a second before making up her mind.

She had to admit, she looked good. The suit form fitted to her skin, showing off her curves. Plus, it was really light. It almost felt as though she wasn't wearing anything at all. She could've fallen asleep in the thing. Victoria was skipping around her apartment so much that she just about forgot why she had put it on in the first place. The button.

She could feel a button brush against both her forefingers – one in each glove – but she wasn't able to push it up. To aid her with her task, she moved her thumbs so that they were placed over the visible material of the button on the outside of her glove. Then, with synchronized timing, she pushed her thumb down and her finger up at the same time. Almost immediately, the kitten sized claws had elongated into that of a lion. Victoria suddenly felt that she had slightly more space for her fingers in the gloves. It was difficult not to stare at the three-inch talons in front of her eyes. The claws that she thought were merely for decoration just turned into a freaking weapon. She didn't know whether to be impressed or scared. She chose to be confused. How in the world did Erin manage this?

* * *

It was about four in the morning when Victoria's phone went off. After the whole claw situation, she had decided to take the suit off and get some rest. There is only so much weird shit a girl could handle and she had had far too much for one day. And what was supposed to be a good night's rest was interrupted by a text message. Why couldn't anyone learn to contact her at a decent hour?

Without lifting her head off of the pillow, she lazily patted around the bed for an object which resembled a phone, succeeding after about the fifth pat.

Opening one eye, she turned on her phone, the bright light of the screen making her turn it back off. Deciding to be strong, she turned it back on, enduring the painful glare. Two new texts from Erin.

 _ **I'm outside your building.  
Let's the test the powers of your little gadget.**_

 _ **Go away.**_ Was Victoria's only response before shutting her eyes and dropping her arm to her side. Not a mere minute later, she heard the muffled sound of the elevator doors opening from outside her apartment before the sound of the door swinging open hit her ears. At times like this, she regretted ever giving Erin the keys to her home.

"Victoria, get up." The all too familiar voice of the blonde haired girl called out from the living room.

Her only response was a groan as she firmly covered her ears with a pillow.

"You promised me you would test the amulet out with me." Her voice was closer now and the pillow was not doing a very good job of blocking out the noise.

"I didn't mean at like four in the freaking morning!" Victoria yelled out, refusing to open her eyes.

"Well when else are we going to do it? In broad daylight when everyone can see?"

She did have a point.

"Ugh, fine. But I'm not going to enjoy it."

* * *

It was almost half past when the two got to the warehouse. It was Erin's grand idea. The warehouse was owned by the company Erin had worked for and it was used for storing fashion items of all sorts. When she had first started working at the company, part of her job was to make sure everything was accounted for. Although she didn't have to do so anymore, she had never returned the key.

Once the duo stepped inside, Victoria opened up her bag and took out the amulet which she had carefully wrapped in a small cloth.

"Alright," Victoria said picking it up and putting it around her neck, "Here goes nothing."

As she tied the string into place she felt more refreshed, more awake. Almost as if she had just had a shot of espresso, but not exactly. She didn't know how to describe it, but it was a good feeling.

"How do you feel?" Erin asked as if on cue.

"Different," Victoria responded, "So what do she want me to do?"

"Well, I have a few ideas. My first one being this." Erin said reaching into her own bag and pulling out a small Swiss army knife.

This caused Victoria to let out a groan. She knew exactly where Erin was going with this and she wasn't all that keen about having to slit her hand open again.

Quickly but firmly, Erin sliced straight down Victoria's palm causing blood to begin oozing out. Though not long after, the amulet began to glow once again and the wound sealed back up before her very eyes. The two of them had seen it before but couldn't help but be amazed.

"What next?" Victoria asked, much more eager than before.

"Well, I was thinking that the best way to find out is to go out there and fight."

"Fight? Fight who exactly?"

"I don't know there's ought to be some villainous people out there."

"At five in the morning? Even villainous people have to sleep, Erin."

A sigh escaped Erin's lips. "I guess you're right. We'll come back later tonight," Erin responded, picking up her things and heading towards the exit, Victoria followed soon after.

"So what you're telling me is that you woke me up at four in the morning to test something we already knew was possible?"

"Why do you always have to be a pessimist?" Erin teased as the two began to walk down the driveway of the warehouse towards the main road.

"I'm not always a pessimist," Victoria argued back as the two set a pace down the dimly lit street, passing the alleyways that resided between buildings.

"I beg to diff-" Erin's sentence was interrupted by an ear piercing scream coming from an alley on the other side of the street.

"What was that?" Victoria asked, the fear in her voice was evident.

"It sounded like a scream."

"Let's go take a look."

"Victoria, I don't know."

"C'mon Erin, isn't this the sort of fight you were talking about?"

Erin agreed silently, knowing that her friend was right.

* * *

As the two of them approached the alley, a more muffled cry for help was sent out. Entering the walkway, Victoria saw four men circling around a timid woman who seemed to have been getting home from work.

"Hey!" She called out, "Leave her alone!"

Her demands were followed by the sound of laughter resounding from the men which only aided in fuelling her anger.

"Okay, be that way," she muttered to herself before rushing at the men with all the force that she could muster.

Before any of them could even blink, Victoria had wrapped her legs around the head of one and brought him to the ground with her and then flipped back onto her feet, kicking another man in the process. Two down, two to go. She then pushed herself off the ground and onto the lid of the large garbage bin which was conveniently placed in front of the third target's head. With a kick to the face he went flying across the alleyway, his body crashing against it. She turned to face the last man, only to be taken by surprise as he lifted she from the bin and slammed her against the wall, his hands holding her wrists down so hard that she was sure they would snap. She pushed against his grip and managed to free herself from it but this freedom lasted a mere second before one of the other men had stood up and shoved her back into place. A small knife emerged from the pocket of the larger one of the two and held it to her throat. Victoria was sure this was the end. That's when she felt a blunt pain, but it wasn't from a cut on her neck. No, it was her gums, it felt as though she was growing teeth in a matter of seconds. Her vision blacked out for a moment and then returned, only she was seeing the world in a much more muted manner. The men began to back away from her, releasing their grip. Looks of fear had stricken their features. Victoria pounced on them and bit into the larger one's neck before ripping her mouth off. By the time she had finished, the other man had run off. Blood covered her mouth as she felt an odd feeling in her gums once more. Victoria jumped up onto the roof of the nearby building, using the dumpster for leverage and ran along the roofs of the buildings towards her apartment, away from the scene.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Finally some Bucky! Yay!**

* * *

The sound of water hitting the tiled floor, resounded through the apartment. Victoria couldn't believe what just happened. She killed a guy. And now she was just supposed to go to work as if nothing had ever happened. She had to forget it. Somehow, she had to. It was her first day and making a good impression was a must.

Stepping out of the shower, she looked at the small digital clock which sat on her bedside table. Three past seven. She and Erin had spent the rest of the morning talking about what had happened. They had used hushed tones as if someone was listening in and speaking in anything higher than thirty decibels would get them caught. She learned that she had grown fangs and her eyes had turned into an unnatural shade of green, her pupils becoming vertical slits. The two of them decided not to tell anyone about the incident and carry on with their lives. And that's exactly what Victoria was going to do.

Picking an outfit that she felt was business casual, she headed out the door.

* * *

Working at Stark Industries was going to be exciting for her. She had completed college with a degree in biomed and biophysics. This was the perfect opportunity for. Hopefully, her little side plans won't jeopardise her future.

She boarded the train to midtown Manhattan and she was on her way.

* * *

The Avengers Tower was huge. Victoria couldn't imagine what it looked like on the inside. Her instructions were to travel up to the 90th floor and meet Dr. John Arcand who was her co-worker as well as her boss.

Stepping into the building, Victoria was stunned. She was invited by a large entryway which was covered by a multitude people who were bustling around, heading to their jobs. She located the elevators and stepped into one. As she pressed the 90 button on the glass wall of the lift, she was asked for a code. Nine-oh-eight-one-two-two, she mouthed as she typed the numbers in and then she was headed up.

As the doors slid open, Victoria was greeted by a white marble hallway which ended at a pair of glass doors which led to what seemed like a lab. Made sense. She was working as a lab assistant, sort of.

Her shoes clicked on the floor as she made her way to the doors and timidly opened them.

"Victoria? Victoria Edwards?" A deep voice questioned from behind a microscope.

"Yes, that's me. And I'm guessing you're Dr. Arcand?" She responded, slowly walking towards the man hoping to match the voice to a face.

"Yes, but you can call me John," he said lifting his head and holding out his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you Victoria." That's when she noticed his English accent which somehow managed to accentuate his black hair and brown eyes.

"It's nice to meet she too," she responded, accepting his handshake and giving him a small smile.

"Well, enough small talk. Let's get into it, shall we?" He said, returning the smile, "Let me first show you where you'll be working and what you'll be doing. Then as a part of my job, I have to run all new employees through Mr. Stark, so I'll send you up to meet him. It's just a safety thing so no need to worry."

"Sounds good." Victoria said, hiding the fact that she was slightly anxious about meeting Tony Stark of all people, especially considering that she was basically using this job as a way to spy on him and his friends.

* * *

John guided her through the two labs that she would be using. The lab that she met him at was the lab where new chemical compounds were discovered and unknown substances were identified. It was barely used. The second lab was the one that was used most frequently so it was dubbed the main lab. It was used for everything from designing new gadgets for the Avengers – whether they were used in battle or during training – to making modifications in their suits if there was ever a need.

After her little briefing, Victoria was on her way to meet Tony Stark. All by her lonesome. John had told her not to worry but she wasn't the best at following orders so, yes, she was worrying. The entire elevator ride up to the top floor was spent fidgeting with the sleeve of her wool knit jumper and wiping the sweat off her palms onto the front of her pants.

The doors of the lift dinged open and Victoria was confronted with five familiar faces – Steve Rogers, Wanda Maximoff, Vision, Bucky Barnes and Tony Stark himself – and they were all staring at the strange girl who had just appeared out of the elevator.

"Uh…" Tony started, glancing around, "Who are you?"

She took a look around the room at each of the five members before deciding that was a bad idea as it only added to her anxiety.

"Victoria. Edwards," she began to answer in fragmented sentences, "I'm the new lab assistant. Kind of. Not really. I mean, maybe. I'm not really sure. I just, um, I-"

"Please stop talking," Tony demanded, instantly shutting her up, "Did John send you?"

All she could do was nod in response.

He nodded back at her before turning his attention to the TV, the others following soon after.

She waited in silence glancing around the room for what felt like hours before he finally turned his attention back to her, "Have you heard about this, by the way? It's insane."

Referring to the news, he turned up the volume of the speakers making the voice emitting from them much more audible.

It showed a man on screen who was being interviewed by a reporter. He looked like he had just seen a ghost and Victoria swore she knew him. Maybe she saw him at the coffee shop the other day or maybe on the train to work or… Or it was early this morning when she went completely feral. That's it. He was the man that had run off and now he was talking about some monster that attacked him and his friends.

" _She-she looked like Dracula or something! It was crazy! And she attacked us, man, I had to get out of there!"_ The man yelled into the microphone, his eyes going wild.

 _Play it cool, Victoria, play it cool. You're not guilty. You're not guilty._ She thought to herself in a desperate attempt to calm her nerves.

"You don't actually believe this, do you?" Victoria questioned Tony, hoping to lead suspicion away from herself.

"In the world we live in? There's a lot I'm willing to believe in."

"Well, until I see it for myself, I really don't think I can." She couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. It's like she had gained the courage of a lion out of thin air.

He looked at her in silence for a minute almost like he was inspecting she. She was sure he had caught onto her bluffs but luckily, she was proven wrong.

"Right, well, you seem normal, sort of. So, you can head on back down and tell John everything checked out," Tony said dismissing her and turning back to the news.

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"Okay." She responded clumsily before retreating back into the safety of the elevator.

* * *

The rest of Victoria's day had passed by in a much smoother fashion. She hadn't used her brain too much and had merely helped John clean up around the lab. After she had grabbed two coffees for Erin and herself, she was en route to her own apartment so the two of them could plan their next escapade.

"How was your first day on the job?" Erin called out from the couch as she heard she close the door shut.

"Not bad, except for one moderately uncomfortable encounter with Tony Stark and his comrades," Victoria said as she put her bag down on the floor next to the couch and slumped down next to Erin, handing the drink over to her.

"Wait, you actually met him?" Erin asked, now fully absorbed by the conversation.

"Yep."

"And?"

"And…" Victoria attempted to respond, trailing off at the end not quite sure what Erin was expecting.

"Well?"

"It was just strange. I had to meet him because all new employees had to be checked by him or something and then he was watching the news and they were talking about me on it but not this me but the other me and he was asking what I thought about it and I was so sure he knew it was me but then he just dismissed me." Babbling had been a nervous habit of hers ever since she could remember. It was just one of those awkward things about her that she could never overcome.

"Odd."

"Yeah, very."

"So did he tell you that you didn't kill that guy?"

"What?" Victoria was genuinely surprised.

"You know, the guy you sunk you fangs into. You didn't kill him. He's in critical condition but you didn't kill him. And the incident is being filed as an animal attack so it looks like you're in the clear."

"That's good, I guess." Victoria said, forcing out a tight-lipped smile.

"Anyway," Erin said putting her cup of coffee on the table, "I know what we're gonna do next."

* * *

"A police radio? Erin, are she completely out of your mind?"

"Not yet," Erin replied jokingly as she began to set it up on the black marble kitchen countertop.

"Where… How did you even get it?" Victoria couldn't help but be baffled.

"Well you know how my dad is a cop?"

"Wait a minute Erin, you stole this from your dad? Do you know how much trouble he could get into if anyone found out?"

"Don't worry, we won't get caught." Somehow, Erin's calm demeanour seemed to make it less of an issue to Victoria.

Ten minutes had passed and Victoria had settled down a bit about Erin thieving a police radio. Erin had asked her to change into the cat-suit while she set up the radio and by the time Victoria was done, the stress didn't weigh her down as much.

"Hey Erin, I just thought of something. If I'm supposed to be fighting crime in this or whatever, won't I need a mask or a hood or something?"

"Take a look in my bag," she responded, not bothering to look up from the device.

Victoria walked over to the eggplant coloured couch where Erin's satchel had been neatly placed. Digging through it she discovered a mask which was shaped into the upper part of a cat's face, the colour matching her suit perfectly.

"I made the securing strap with a material which grips down to your hair so it won't move around." Erin said from her station at the counter.

Victoria decided that she had done all she could for the time being and sat in front of Erin simply watching her attempts to get the radio to work. Soon she wasn't focused on what was going on in front of her eyes but sat cradled by her own thoughts. That was when everything settled in her head. What the two of them were doing was completely illegal. If they ever got caught, that would be the end of her life, and she wasn't prepared to go to jail, but the two of them had gone too far to turn back now.

"Got it!" Erin's exclamation pulled her out of her thoughts and into the real world, "Let's get to business, shall we?"

* * *

For the first few hours, the two of them didn't get a lot of activity. A few drunks, a few speeders. Nothing out of the ordinary. Victoria had gotten so bored of listening to the radio that she decided to watch a movie while keeping the radio close by. If someone were to walk into the room at that moment, they would think the two of them were completely unhinged. She was dressed in a full spandex one piece and lying on the couch, and Erin was nestled into a chair, a police radio in hand. A couple more minutes passed before Erin caught onto something interesting.

"Tor, come listen to this."

Turning down the volume of the television, Victoria followed her friend's instructions, "What is it?"

"An armed robbery in progress, about a block from here at a gas station."

* * *

Erin had parked a few yards away from the petrol station and then given her friend an earpiece so the two could communicate in case anything went awry.

"How many robbers did you say there were?" Victoria asked through the earpiece as she approached the gas station.

"Two, I think."

"Great," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

As she got closer to the station, the two men that Erin had mentioned came into view and she noticed that one was holding the shopkeeper at gun point as he emptied out the cash register.

"Hey!" Victoria yelled out as she stepped inside, grabbing the attention of all three men.

"What the hell?" One of the burglars said, completely dumbfounded as to what he saw before him. A bare second had passed before both men began laughing as the shopkeeper gaped at her, not certain as to what he should do.

Alright, if they aren't going to take her seriously, she'll show them how serious she could be.

Victoria began to charge towards the two men hoping to take them out with ease when a shot ran through the air. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She looked down at the source of the ache to find the fabric of her cat-suit darkening. Blood. Her ears rang out and the next thing she knew she were staring down at the two men on the floor, and she felt the sensation of her fangs in her mouth. Forcing them to retreat back into her gums, she ran out of their as fast as she could and made her way back to Erin's car. She could hear the muffled sound of sirens as she hopped in.

"Holy crap, what happened? I was talking to you through the earpiece but you weren't replying. I thought something went wrong," Erin babbled, "Oh my gosh, is that blood?"

"It's fine, I'm not bleeding anymore," Victoria said truthfully, as she had noticed the wound had healed up seconds after the bullet had exited her body, "I think I went crazy again."

"What? Shit, Victoria, are you okay?"

"I'm fine but them, I don't know," she said, referring back to the two robbers, "I stopped myself before I had time to dig my fangs into them."

"That's good, I guess."

"We should probably get out of here. I heard sirens," Victoria suggested before Erin brought the engine of the car back to life.

* * *

This charade continued every day. Victoria went to work in the morning and went out to fight crime at night. God, it sounded insane just thinking about it but it gave her such an adrenaline rush. She didn't want to stop. And everything was going by so smoothly which surprised her a little. After she was shot through the heart on Monday night, she didn't get very many major injuries, only a few bruises which had healed up within a minute and she hadn't gone feral since that night either making her feel a hundred times better. But knowing her luck, something was bound to go haywire soon.

And her theory proved correct Thursday night. She and Erin had heard about some sort of hostage situation down at town hall. This was bigger than anything she had faced before and she was completely fine with running away at any given moment. Her goal was to stop the bad guys and protect the civilians. Easier said than done.

Victoria entered the facility through the back already having taken out a guy who was standing guard at the door. Lucky for her, he didn't notice her approach him and she was able to get him in a sleeper hold fairly quickly and quietly. Three months ago, she wouldn't have even known how to execute such a move but it seemed like the moment she put the necklace on, she acquired knowledge that she didn't know about before. It was strange but incredible at the same time.

As she maneuvered her way down the hallways she heard yelling coming from a room close by. Approaching said room, she noticed multiple people lying on the floor. They were alive but their features showed no sign of any emotion except terror. At the centre of the room there were approximately six men, all armed. They were pointing their guns at two other men. Victoria recognised them almost instantly, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. They were here. Up until this point, she had never come face to face with any of the Avengers, at least not at night. She had a choice to make, ambush the men and save the people but possibly get captured by the Avengers thus revealing her identity and getting into all the legal stuff and maybe possibly going to jail or run back the way she came, tell Erin she chickened out and hide under her covers until morning. The latter seemed to be the most compelling option but Victoria couldn't bring herself to do it. She decided she'd rather be known as a hero than not be known at all. She had no idea where the sudden rush of heroism had come from. Usually she would have chickened out and fighting wouldn't have even been an option, but it was too late to turn back now.

Victoria felt the cool wind against her body as she ran towards the men. Jumping onto the back of one, she wrapped her arm around his neck, sending him staggering backwards before falling limply to the ground. Her actions had now initiated a full on gun war, bullets flying right and left. Bucky and Steve had begun to fight the men and the civilians had crawled away to hide behind desks and walls hoping to avoid being hit. The screams and shots became a blur as she focused her eyes on her next target. As he pointed his gun at a young woman, Victoria ran forward sending a kick from behind straight to his crotch. Yeah it was a cheap shot, but it worked. He dropped the gun, his hands going to his crotch as if it somehow eased the pain. He turned to face her, which gave her a golden opportunity to knee him in the chin, sending him stumbling backwards. But she was far from finished. She inched closer to him, hitting him with a left hook which caused him to fall to the floor. He attempted to stand but her blows were able to keep him down.

She turned back around to find the fight had finished, and the two Avengers were staring directly at her. The tables had turned. Now _she_ was the target.

Victoria looked around trying to find a way out and managed to identify a route. As she took her first step she saw the metal armed man, sprinting towards her. The adrenaline pumped through her as she vaulted over to the receptionist desk using it as leverage to push herself up to the balcony of the room. Her success lasted but a mere second as the man had followed her up, pinning her to the wall. His metal hand wrapped around her neck, blocking her airways.

"Who are you?" He yelled. Victoria was struck with fear as she felt herself struggling to breathe.

She hardly had any time to form a response as she felt the familiar darkness crossing her mind. Shit. She felt her teeth elongate. Her vision had changed. She saw his eyes transition from anger to something which seemed to be a mixture of confusion and fear. Grabbing his wrist, she pried his hand from her throat. This was her chance to escape, but she didn't move away. She didn't run to the exit. No, she gripped his wrist harder. She heard the metal creak and groan. The pressure of her hold, causing various parts to fling off. Stop. She wanted it to stop. She didn't want to hurt him. She didn't want to hurt anyone. Her pleas had no use. He groaned out and her vision went black once more. Her fangs retreated. Her vision changed back and Victoria was Victoria again. Immediately releasing her grip, she backed away covering her mouth with her gloved hands.

"Oh my god." Her voice came out muffled, "I'm so sorry."

The man didn't respond. He didn't have time; she ran to the exit.

* * *

Victoria headed into the lab the next morning, feeling slightly better than she had the night before. Each time she swallowed she could still feel the dull pain on her neck despite the fact that her necklace had healed up any damage the moment Bucky had released his grip.

"Victoria, I know it's barely been a week but I want you to get straight into it." She heard the familiar English accent speak up as she entered the secondary lab.

"Alright," she started cautiously, "What's up?"

"You're familiar with Bucky Barnes, yes?"

 _Shit, he knows. No he doesn't, Victoria. Stop scaring yourself. How could he possibly?_

"The Winter Soldier? Yeah," Victoria responded as nonchalantly as possible.

"Well, he's got some sort of issue with his arm and I need you to go and check it out."

 _Just play it cool. Maybe you can get out of this._

"Me? Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes," he replied shifting his gaze, not sure as to why she continued to question him, "Why not?"

"I just thought he would need someone, I don't know, more qualified." Victoria knew she was more than qualified. She graduated at the top of her class and had handled problems much more difficult than a malfunctioning bionic arm.

"I think you're plenty qualified Victoria, I've seen your _résumé." He took the words out of her head._

 _Victoria bit her lip and nodded, pretending to feel more assured._

 _"He's in the main lab. I'm sure you'll figure it out."_

 _Crap._

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed! Please review because I really appreciate every single one of your opinions! xx**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry if they are any mistakes, I wrote this pretty late. Also I'm not one hundred percent sure with this one, tell me what you think.**

* * *

Some called him Bludgeoner, others called him the Preserver, but most called him Blackjack. Why? Rumour has it that he has the strength of a thousand men, and one blow from him will not only kill someone but leave them looking like they were bashed in with a mace. No one knew his birth name and those who found out didn't live to tell anyone.

He was seated on the armchair in his office which was lit only by the moonlight glistening through the branches of the trees outside. He stared at the moon as if he was entranced by its glow. Though, this trance only lasted a few minutes as it was interrupted by a small knock at his door followed by the unmistakeable sound of it creaking open.

"Yes?" His resounding voice echoed through the room.

"I've got the file, sir." A timid male voice spoke up from behind him.

"Put it on my desk," he responded, refusing to look away from the window.

"Yes, sir." The man approached the desk and attempted to make a quick getaway only to be stopped by a gruff voice.

"Wait. Sit."

Blackjack spun in his chair to face his mahogany desk. Picking up the file he began to flick through its pages.

The other man swore he heard a small whimper escape his own mouth as he sat to face the larger man.

"The Jade Tiger Amulet. Ever heard of it?" When he received no respond, he looked up from the file staring daggers into the smaller man prompting a response.

"N-no, sir. I can't say I have."

"I'm not surprised. It's a very rare artefact which only few know about. It gets passed down to the youngest in the bloodline once the previous holder passes away. The last holder was a fourth generation descendent from Aztec royalty. We knew her precise location down to the coordinates but unfortunately the amulet's protection was far too powerful for any of my agents. Lucky for us, the old hag kicked the bucket a few months back. Now the amulet has been assumed by some young woman in Brooklyn. See, the longer the amulet is worn by any person who can possess the spirit of the Jade Tiger, the stronger the spirit inside it grows, and since she just obtained the amulet not long ago, she won't pose a threat. My point is, I want that amulet. Get it for me."

"How do you want me to do that, sir?" The man asked, slightly afraid of questioning his superior.

"Call upon my men, how else?" He growled out causing the smaller man to jump a little.

"Y-yes, sir."

"Well, what're you still doing here? Get a move on," he said much louder than before.

"Y-yes, sorry, sir." The man whimpered out as he was finally able to exit through the wooden door.

* * *

Slowly opening the glass door to the main lab, Victoria's eyes caught sight of the man with the metal arm. He was sitting on a chair which was quite similar to that of a dental chair and faced away from her and towards the television. She fully entered the room and kept her eye on the soldier as she went to grab some utensils from the table to her left. Bucky continued to keep his eyes focused on the TV despite all the noise she was making at the back of the room. Saying she were nervous was an understatement. Victoria was terrified. What if he recognised her? Then what? She practically bore a hole into his eyes when she went crazy, how could he not? Too caught up in her own thoughts, Victoria knocked a tool off of the table sending a loud cling through the room. Oh, how she wished the ground would swallow her whole.

"You okay back there?" His voice called out to her, though his eyes were still fixed onto the screen of the TV.

Crouching down to pick up the utensil she replied, "I'm fine."

The sound of her voice finally caused him to look away and towards her, "You're not Dr. Arcand." The confusion in his voice was prominent.

"Yeah, he actually-" Victoria was cut off as she hit she head on the table as she stood up sending out a cry of pain from her lips.

Bucky chuckled, "You okay?"

"Yep, yep. I'm good." That was humiliating. Though maybe it was a good thing. What kind of person would believe an awkward, clumsy girl like her could tear apart a bionic arm?

"Uh, as I was saying," she attempted to get the conversation back on track as she walked towards him, tools in hand, "John wanted _me_ to come and help instead of him but don't ask why 'cause I don't know."

Victoria had now reached the chair Bucky was situated at and had placed the utensils down on the table next to it. His eyes hadn't moved from her in the slightest which didn't help her anxiousness one bit.

"Wait a minute, I know you," Bucky said, a sense of surprise in his voice.

"You do?" She eyed him suspiciously. This was it. She was done for.

"Yeah, you're that girl from the other day. You came upstairs to introduce yourself."

 _Oh thank god._

"Oh, yeah, yeah that was me." A silence followed as Victoria stood there twiddling with her fingers.

"So, what's wrong with your arm?" She asked hoping to slice through the awkwardness. He looked down at his limb before lifting it up so she was able to view it. His wrist was falling apart. Metal pieces were hanging down and wires were sticking out in different places. She had really done a number on him.

Victoria couldn't help but gape at it. She caused that damage. And that scared her.

"W-what happened?" She stuttered out. She very well knew what had happened.

"She did," he said pointing to the television screen behind her which caused her to turn and watch.

" _Cateye, is the name given to this vigilante. She is considered a danger and an alpha level threat. If you have any further information on this threat, please contact your local police department."_ The reporter spoke as footage of Victoria leaving the building last night played. This was the first time that she had gotten recognition for her work, and she was being portrayed as some villain.

She let out a huff, "There are some pretty crazy people out there," she said, biting her lip as she turned to begin her work on Bucky's arm.

"Tell me about it, doll." His response caused her to look up at him, which left a smirk plastered on his face.

* * *

Two hours had passed by and Victoria had manged to fix Bucky's arm so well that it looked as though nothing had ever happened. To pass the time she and him had talked about a lot of things from movies to his life in the '40s. The conversation they shared made her feel even more guilt than before and it was easily the worst feeling in the world. Now it was practically impossible for her to get the image of him screaming in agony the previous night. He thanked her as he exited, calling her 'doll' once more.

* * *

As the days went by, Victoria realised that the necklace enhanced her senses which meant she could hear things any average person couldn't. Using this to her advantage, she started wearing the necklace to work, listening to the conversations between the Avengers. This method was so much better than the crappy police radio that Erin had stolen. Now she knew exactly where to go and when to go. Due to this newfound skill, she ran into the Avengers a few more times during her escapades and each time they made an attempt to capture her and each time she managed to break at least one of their little gadgets. Once it was Tony's arc reactor and then it was Sam's wing. This wouldn't have been such a bad thing if she didn't have to fix it up the next day. Karma was a bitch. But there was some good news, good news for Erin anyway. Cateye was becoming more of a household name and she hated to admit it, but she kind of liked it too. Then there was work. With each passing day, Victoria was certain that every time that she walked into the tower, they would recognise her but that day never came and boy were she glad. Most of the time during work, she helped John out. If he wasn't helping identify a new substance or helping Tony improve the Iron Man suit, he would be developing a new weapon. He was never not busy. And if she wasn't helping him, she was usually in the main lab helping Bucky out with his arm. He had never come back with a problem as large as the one she had caused, it was usually just little things and the occasional check-up so it lasted only a few minutes much to her dismay. But those few moments really helped the two to bond and soon enough, every second sentence that Bucky said would be some sort of flirty comment towards her. And believe it or not, she actually kind of liked it. But she played off the comments and treated him all the same. She had to. She knew that getting involved with him will only end in dismay and she had enough disappointment to last a lifetime.

* * *

It was Wednesday evening and Bucky had shown up for his usual check-up.

"Hey, doll," he said smirking in Victoria's direction as she walked into the lab.

"Hey, Bucky," she sighed out trying not to let his remark get to her. There was just something that made her tick when he called her 'doll', and it wasn't a bad kind of tick either.

Victoria approached him with her tools and began to go through all the regular tests with his metal arm. He didn't speak, only watched her with intent causing the all too familiar feeling of uncomfortableness to start crawling up in her veins.

"Why're you looking at me like that?" She asked, not wanting to look into his blue orbs.

"Like what, doll?" He asked in a low voice. Victoria couldn't control her own eyes as she looked up at him. Her heart was pounding a million miles per minute. God, he was-

"Hey, Victoria." Thank God. John had walked into the room, breaking her daze, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure," she responded, instantly dropping her tool onto the table next to her. Bucky couldn't peel his eyes off of her as she rushed towards the other scientist in a desperate attempt to get away from the metal-armed man. What had come over her?

"What is it?" Victoria asked, easily looking John in the eye.

"I don't know if you heard about the party that Tony's holding tonight but we both got invitations and I was wondering if you were going?"

"Wait, are you…" She trailed off hoping he would catch on but no such luck, "Are you asking me out?" She whispered. The question causing Bucky to finally look away and down at his hands.

John was taken aback, "What? No, no. I just don't like those kinds of things but I sort of have an obligation to go and I'd rather have someone there with me. You know, to keep me sane," he answered with a chuckle.

"Oh, right, well, sure, I'll go," Victoria responded with a genuine smile.

"Thanks, Victoria. I owe you one," he said, patting her on the shoulder before returning to his job.

Victoria treaded back to the chair Bucky was situated at and continued her work.

Only a few seconds had passed before Bucky decided to speak up again, looking up at her once more, "So, since you're obviously not going with John, maybe you'll go with me?"

"Very funny, Bucky."

* * *

Victoria had to admit, these kinds of events weren't really her cup of tea either, but just out of pure kindness towards John, she decided to tag along.

"I still don't think you should go," Erin said as she sat on the edge of her friend's bed watching her finish up her makeup.

"What's the big deal? It's one night."

"Don't you think it'll be a little suspicious that Cateye doesn't show up the exact night that you're out with the Avengers?"

Victoria rolled her eyes at the question, "C'mon Erin they might be smart, but they're not _that_ smart." She said, putting on her earrings.

Erin let out a sigh, signalling her surrender, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Just be careful, okay?"

Victoria's demeanour softened at her friend's statement, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Okay, but just do me a favour and wear the necklace?"

It was Victoria's turn to sigh. Arguing with Erin wasn't something that she enjoyed, so she obliged and put on the necklace. Tying the string at the back of her neck, she pulled the top of her blouse away from her body so the cold, jade stone could slide under it with ease, concealing it from view.

* * *

Tonight, instead of stopping at the 90th floor as usual, Victoria travelled all the way up to the top floor where the event was being held. As the elevator doors dinged open, her eyes were set upon a large mass of people who were all socializing with one another. Stepping out slowly, she scanned the room for anyone she knew, John in particular. Unable to locate him, she decided to scope out the area, in hopes of finding him sooner than later. She took small steps, wandering around the facility completely unaware of the pair of blue eyes that were watching her from the balcony above.

Bucky observed Victoria as she made her way around to the bar, unable to peel his eyes off of her. There was something about her that intrigued him. Maybe it was the way her cheeks turned a rosier shade of pink each time he called her doll, or maybe it was how she laughed every time he hit her with one of his cheesy pick-up lines. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

"Who would've thought? The Winter Soldier having the hots for the new lab assistant." Bucky was so focused on Victoria that he didn't even notice Sam sneak up behind him. Some master assassin he was.

"Shut up," he responded, smirking slightly but refusing to tear his eyes away from her.

Victoria eventually found John situated at the bar, actually he more or less found her as he called out her name, waving her over. Seating herself on one of the black barstools, she asked the bartender for some water, deciding it was far too risky to even have a sip of alcohol tonight.

" _Who would've thought? The Winter Soldier having the hots for the new lab assistant."_

A distant voice spoke very bluntly in her ear. Victoria registered that she must've picked up a stranger's conversation – she was still working on controlling all of her enhanced senses – but she continued to listen on.

" _Shut up."_ Bucky. That was most definitely him. An uncontrollable smirk played on her lips.

" _Well I don't how you did it in the '40s but in this day and age, we actually go up and talk to people."_ The other voice teased him. Somehow, she couldn't help but scan the room, looking for their whereabouts. Letting her ears guide she, she found her eyes land up at the balcony, straight into Bucky's own orbs.

He was surprised, to say the least, when her eye caught his. He was trained to never get caught and yet, the lab assistant caught him eyeing her up and down. Victoria looked away as soon as she could, not wanting her eyes to linger. The only thing running through her mind were Erin's words. Be careful. Though, her eyes couldn't help but wander back up only to find he had left. Victoria traced her eyes all the way around the balcony and down the stairs but to no avail.

"Looking for someone?"

She jumped slightly and shifted to face the voice to her left to find that Bucky had made his way down to her, clearly following the advice of his friend.

Before she could even think of a response, John had taken over the conversation, "Mr. Barnes, it's good to see you again." But his words were left unnoticed as Bucky gazed into her eyes, Victoria mirroring his actions.

 _Look away, Victoria. You have to look away. Look at the window or something. Look. Away._

She was able to snap out of her trance after a few moments of self-conflict causing Bucky to do the same. Doing as her mind had asked, she switched her gaze to the window. Ugh, what were she doing? She had promised herself that she wouldn't fall into the trap that was Bucky Barnes, but she was at the edge and a step away from falling. A mere nudge and she would topple over completely. Though Victoria's eyes were focused on the view of Manhattan outside the window, her mind couldn't help but think about his eyes, trying her hardest to reimage them in her head.

A loud crash broke through her thoughts and she noticed she was now facing Bucky's back as he had stood defensively in front of her. Standing from her seat, she pushed past Bucky to see the scene that had unfolded. Multiple armed men had crashed through the large windows of the establishment, all of which were masked with balaclavas. They held anyone they could at gun point but held back from pulling the trigger. Many of their gazes were wondering around the room. They were looking for something. Victoria's panicked mind decided that it was time she got out of there. She could barely take a step back before shots began firing left and right. Iron Man, Captain America, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye. The Winter Soldier. The group had started to attack the masked men, not completely sure of their intentions but knowing they were anything but moral. As chaos ensued, she made a b-line for the exit, her mind focusing on nothing else. She wasn't worried about getting hurt. No, she was worried they would find out. One shot, and she wouldn't be in control anymore. Maybe wearing the amulet wasn't such a good idea. Almost there. Once she was out, she promised herself she would come back as Cateye, but she only had one objective in mind right now and that was to protect her identity.

Just as she closed in on the door, a gloved hand grabbed her arm twisting her around so that she was facing away from the double doors. She could feel the hard metal of the man's gun aimed at her throat. Victoria's head was pulsing, her ears were blaring and she was on the verge of blacking out. Not a good sign. Forcing herself to get a grip, she blinked a few times to focus her vision. Once the world was clear again, she found that everyone that had stayed in the room was either dead or pretending to be. Everyone besides the Avengers. They were all staring at her. Their minds contemplating the next move.

"You give me the necklace or I shoot her." The man's gravelly voice spoke out, his accent, evident.

 _The amulet? Surely, they didn't mean this one. Surely._

"Look, we don't know who you are, we don't who you work for but we don't have an amulet," Steve told the honest truth but the gunman wasn't having it.

"Don't lie to me! The tracking system said it was here."

Silence. Absolute silence. Were they really just going to watch her brain get blown to bits?

"Fine." The man's final words. He was bluffing and she knew it. But did her other half know? The half that had glowing, green eyes and fangs? The half that could kill this man in a heartbeat? She shut her eyes. Not to brace herself for the bullet but to hold back the crazy for as long as she could.

 _No, no, no, no._ It was like a mantra in her head.

She couldn't hold back. She couldn't do it. She felt the familiar sensation. Her vision went black and when she opened her eyes, she felt trapped in her own body. She had no control whatsoever. None. Yanking the tip of the rifle away from her head, she pushed it back towards the man. He staggered back in pure surprise which gave her the opportunity to pounce onto him, pushing him to the ground, she sank her fangs into his carotid. Then black. Black was all she saw.

Victoria's eyes fluttered open only to be blinded by the fluorescent lights that hung up on the pristine white ceilings of the tower. Her memory woke up after the rest of her did and she began to recall the events that led up to this moment. Men. Guns. Running. Exit. Gun. Avengers. Blood. Then nothingness.

* * *

She shot up from the white futon she had been placed on and wished that the ground would swallow her whole. Avengers. All of them. And they were all looking at her once again. All except for one. He was looking down at his interlaced fingers.

"Care to explain?" Tony asked standing up from his seat. Victoria averted her gaze to the window. Wondering about Erin. How she would feel if she knew. Anything but the question at hand. What was wrong with her? Erin had told her to be careful, why couldn't she have just listened? She should have hidden. She should have run a little faster. No. No, the only way she could've prevented this was to have not shown up at all.

Victoria opened her mouth only to have it shut again by Tony, "Seven cars, four buildings, my arc reactor, and this guy's arm." He pointed at Bucky but she refused to shift her gaze which had moved to her lap.

"Innocent until proven guilty," she murmured. But she was so guilty. The word was painted on the walls with the gunman's blood.

He sighed looking back to his fellow team mates before focusing on his shoes, "Alright, take her away."

What? Her head shot up to find two men in black suits, grabbing her by either arm. She writhed in their grip. She thrashed about but to no avail. These men weren't even that big. She had taken on bigger threats than them before, it was hard to understand why she couldn't – Oh. Looking down, Victoria found that her neck was bare.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for all the nice reviews guys!**

* * *

Victoria was placed in solitary confinement in a large, cylindrical, glass… Well, cage. It was a cage. She had a million things running through her mind and she couldn't stop any one of those thoughts to ask it what was going on. What just happened? Where's the amulet? What's Erin thinking? Erin better stay home. What was John thinking? What was Bucky thinking? What had she gotten herself into? Why couldn't she just have stayed at home?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the familiar sound of glass doors opening, the sound she always heard at the lab. Turning towards the doors she noticed it was Tony. She was in for a shitstorm.

Victoria stared at him expectantly and he stared right back only she couldn't quite place what the look was. Disappointment? Anger? Curiosity, maybe?

"I just have one question," he started. Here it comes. The shitstorm.

"How?" Well that was not what she was expecting at all. How? He asked her how?

"W-wha – I'm sorry?" Victoria asked in complete and utter confusion. Out of all the questions in the world and all the questions she had expected him to ask, this was not on the list.

"I mean seriously. You're leaving us very confused here, Victoria," he continued, taking a seat in front of her cage, "The only clue we have is that hideous amulet of yours and right now that's all it is, a hideous amulet. Mind filling in the blanks?"

"Um..." She didn't even know where to begin. Exhaling, she started over, "Mr. Stark, in all honesty, I'm not completely sure myself," Victoria said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Really?" He asked not completely believing her.

"Yeah, I mean I got the necklace from my great grandma an-"

"Who was your great grandma?"

"Uh, I'm not too sure."

He made a sound that was a mixture of understanding and disbelief.

"Anyway, when I first put on the necklace a few months back, I got all these really cool abilities. You know super strength and speed, healing, enhanced senses – that's how I knew where to go, I listened to your conversations, sorry – and fangs."

"Right, the usual."

"And then my friend somehow convinced me to go out and fight crime." Victoria never realised how ridiculous that sounded up until now.

He nodded at this, "And your friend is?"

She glanced away causing him to respond to his own queries, "Let me guess, you don't know."

Victoria shifted her gaze back to him as he continued to speak, "Right, well, you better get comfortable because you're not going to be getting out of here anytime soon." And with that he had exited out the door.

 _Great. Just great._

* * *

Approximately, it had been a twenty-four hours. She wasn't sure because unfortunately, her jail cell did not come with a clock and the prison-like room her cage was in didn't have any windows. Although, she had gotten two meals since she had been put in there. Breakfast and lunch. And now she was starting to feel much more tired so she just assumed it was around eight at night. No one had visited her since the encounter with Tony the previous night but she hadn't expected anyone anyway. A worker had bought her a book so that she wouldn't bore herself to death and since sulking didn't seem like a very exciting activity, Victoria decided that she would delve into the world of Hogwarts and call it an early night. Just as she had somehow gotten comfortable on the rigid mattress that was placed in her room, the sound of the glass doors opening hit her ears once more. Nick Fury. Crap.

"Alright Miss Edwards, we've made a verdict." As he said this, Victoria stood up from her bed, approaching the edge of the cell.

 _A verdict? What the hell does that mean?_

"You're not gonna kill me, are you?" She chuckled nervously hoping that wouldn't be the case.

"We want you to join the Avengers." Okay dying seemed better. Much better.

"What?" She didn't want to become an Avenger. That was the exact thing she was fighting against. This was bullshit. "Do I have a choice?"

"A choice between that and prison." Prison. No, Victoria couldn't handle prison. She was a weakling without the amulet, she would get pummelled.

She sighed, "Fine."

"Great!" He said with enthusiasm that seemed almost fake, "There are a few conditions though."

"Conditions?"

"Yes Miss Edwards, you pronounced that perfectly."

"Okay, enough with the sarcasm, what are the conditions?"

"First, as an Avenger you will do your utmost to avenge. No lollygagging or anything of the sort. We really want you to try. Second, we want more information on your necklace."

"I already told 'the Tin Can' everything I know."

"We want to do some research. Testing. See how far the necklace can take you."

"Sounds fun." It was Victoria's turn to be sarcastic.

"I'll see you bright and early tomorrow Miss Edwards, there'll be a briefing in the conference room," he stated as he made his way to the exit, "Oh, and one more thing. You're gonna have to wear this. Twenty-four-seven." He held up an object in his hand before finally exiting the room. An ankle bracelet. Could this night get any worse?

* * *

Nick Fury wasn't lying when he said Victoria would have to be up bright and early. It wasn't even seven yet and she was already dressed and walking to the conference room with two large men behind her and a metal bracelet wrapped tightly around her ankle. They had given her a pair of grey sweatpants and a black tee and she was immensely grateful that it wasn't an orange jumpsuit. But she had to complain. This wasn't fair. She hadn't done anything wrong. Since when was it a law that only the Avengers were allowed to fight crime? It was ridiculous. She didn't deserve this. But then again, she also didn't deserve prison which is why she kept putting one foot in front of the other all the way to the meeting room.

" _She shouldn't be part of the Avengers she's just a kid."_

" _Just a kid? She broke my arm."_

" _She nearly broke me."_

" _See this? It's a claw mark from when she scratched me. I had to get twelve stitches to patch it up. She may be a kid but kid's got claws."_

" _You're all acting like children."_

Victoria managed to make out the muffled conversation the Avengers were having as she approached the glass doors. As she entered, the discussion abruptly stopped and a dead weight silence settled in the room. An empty chair sat between Natasha and Steve which invited her to sit down. Victoria could feel the judgement in their eyes as she made her way to the chair. Once she was seated, Fury began to speak.

"I'm sure you are all well aware of the vigilante issue we've had in the past month," he said looking towards Victoria. This caused her to look down but she couldn't hold back the smirk that escaped her lips. What can she say? She was proud of what she did.

"And I know that many of you do not agree with my decision to put said vigilante into the task force. But unfortunately for you, it's my call to make. So as of now, Miss Edwards or Cateye will be a part of the Avengers Initiative."

The arguments started up again and all Victoria could do was sit there and wait. A weary look overtaking her features.

"That's enough!" Fury's voice boomed over everyone else's causing the silence to return into place, "Miss Edwards, I assume you have a suit?"

* * *

A couple of agents had driven Victoria to her apartment so she could pick up her cat-suit and hopefully say a quick goodbye to Erin.

As she opened the door of the apartment she heard a timid voice call out her name, "Victoria?"

"Erin? Yeah, it's me." Once she had fully entered the flat, she was ambushed by the tall blonde woman, trapping her in a hug.

"I thought you – Oh my gosh I thought you…"

"What?" She asked Erin, her eyes widening, "Did you think I died?"

Erin nodded causing a sigh to escape Victoria's lips, "Trust me, once I tell you what's going on, you'll wish I had."

Before Victoria had been driven to the apartment, Fury had talked to her about how everything was going to go down. She was supposed to wear her ankle bracelet at all times – not that she could take it off anyway – and if she did anything against the Avengers, an electric bolt would be shot up her leg, instantly knocking she out, and then off to prison she would go. Although, if she followed his instructions without any issue, in six months' time, she would be given the choice of returning to her normal life, minus the vigilantism. But up until then she would have to live in the Avengers Tower and leave her current life behind. Victoria explained all the events that led up to this moment and all the conditions she faced to Erin. Erin had started to tear up and began to blame herself for everything and Victoria spent a few more minutes convincing her that that wasn't true.

A knock on the door told Victoria to get a move on so she grabbed her suit as well as other essentials such as her hairbrush, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, a toothbrush and a few more clothes.

"I'm gonna miss you, Victoria." Erin bid her friend farewell through an embrace, tears welling up in her eyes as well as Victoria's.

"I'm gonna miss you too."

* * *

When Victoria got back to the tower, one of the agents showed her to her new room and she had to admit, it was much nicer than the one she had in her apartment. Feeling exhausted physically and emotionally, she decided to finally get some shut eye.

* * *

She only got about five hours of sleep before she was woken up by FRIDAY. She had told Victoria that Fury wanted her to be at the training room in fifteen minutes and frankly, she was getting a little tired of all these early morning wake up calls. She wasn't given any reason as to why she was meeting him there but she obliged and put on a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt before making her way down.

As she entered through the doors of the gym, her eyes took note of the other Avengers standing there with Fury. Victoria proceeded towards them carefully, unsure of what was happening.

"What's going on?" She asked with a slight hint of suspicion in her voice.

"Consider this our first trial with your necklace," Fury responded before he handed the jade necklace back to her.

Victoria tried to hold back a smile but she couldn't. It felt great to have it back, not to mention it made her feel fifty times more powerful. As she reached behind her neck to tie the black string of the amulet into place, Fury spoke up once more, "And Miss Edwards, don't forget what'll happen if you even _think_ about trying anything."

Her smile dropped and she sighed before changing the subject, "So, what do you want me to do?" She questioned, still not completely sure what his agenda was.

"Just show us what you got," Fury said as he nodded towards the Avengers. Wait, was she going to fight them? This was not going to end well.

"Okay, but just try to refrain from killing me. I can be a little vicious when it comes to that." This earned her a glare from many of the people in the room especially Fury, "I'm just forewarning you," she said putting her hands up in defence.

Victoria fought each of the Avengers that were present one by one. Albeit all of them put up one hell of a fight, she had to admit Natasha and Clint were much easier to take on than the others. Steve was much more difficult but eventually she reigned over him. Wanda was the most difficult and Victoria knew from the start that she stood no chance against her. Wanda somehow managed to grasp control over the necklace and halt all of Victoria's powers which rendered her utterly useless. But three out of four wasn't bad. Now she just had one fight left. Bucky. But she was so spent she didn't think it was even a possibility that she could win.

The two stood facing each other in a fighting stance. He used his left arm to throw a punch at her with full force but her quick reflexes helped her grab it before it could even graze her skin. Victoria held his arm with her right hand and tried to push it back but to no avail. He really wasn't holding back. Grabbing it with her other hand she was able to push it back slightly more. While he was distracted she whipped her right leg up and struck him right between his legs which forced him to take his arm away from her grip. Taking the opportunity, she swung the same leg up to his face but he managed to grab it causing her to lose her balance, sending her crashing to the floor. While Victoria was down he took his metal arm once more and threw his fist straight at her face. Though, her cat-like senses were able to protect her as she evaded her head from the punch and moved her left leg from under him to kick him in the jaw making him stagger back slightly. Victoria jumped up to her feet and vaulted at him only to have him grab her by the throat and shove her against the wall behind her. Talk about _déjà vu._ His grip on Victoria's throat tightened and he held her even harder than the first time. She tapped at the wall showing her defeat but he didn't let up. His jaw was set as he squeezed harder. Was he trying to get his arm broken again? Gripping at his wrist she tried to pry his hand away but no such luck.

"Bucky," Victoria choked out as black dots began to take over her vision.

"Bucky stop."

"Barnes!"

Different voices called out but all she could hear was the ringing in her ears. Then black.

 _Shit._

Her fangs shot out of her gums and her vision transitioned into the all too familiar muted colours. She easily pulled Bucky's hand away from her throat but before she could do anything else she felt a shock erupt from her ankle and scatter all through her body. The last thing she felt was a pair of arms and then she didn't feel at all.

* * *

"Miss Edwards."

Victoria's eyes shot open. She was back on the soft mattress of her bed in the Avengers Tower and FRIDAY was speaking to her.

"Miss Edwards, Director Fury wants to speak with you in the conference room."

* * *

The walk to meet Fury was the most pain Victoria had felt since she was shot all those months ago back at the gas station. She had realised that they had taken the amulet back after she passed out so her wounds hadn't completely healed up and she was pretty sure there was still a mark from when Bucky nearly strangled her to death, again. When she approached the office, she was surprised to find only Fury there and none of the Avengers.

"You wanted to see me?" Victoria asked as she walked through the double doors.

"Have a seat."

She obliged and took a seat as he did the same and placed a manila file on the space on the desk between the two of them.

"What's this?" She asked, picking up the folder and flipping over to the first page.

"It's intel that we gathered on that necklace of yours. The Jade Tiger amulet. It belonged to Chimalpopoca, an ancient Aztec emperor who was considered one of the better rulers of the Aztec empire. From then on it has been passed down his bloodline for generations, always going to the youngest descendent. Your great grandmother, Tepin was the descendent before you but I'm sure you already knew that."

"Wait, you're telling me that I'm a descendent of Aztec royalty?"

"Yes."

"Cool." Victoria smiled with a satisfied nod as she continued to scan the file.

"Your powers come from the spirit that's in the necklace, the Jade Tiger. The reason you can pull out so many different skills from that one stone is because it remembers the skills that each carrier of the necklace had."

She nodded once again.

"There is one other thing."

Victoria looked up at this. His tone did not give her the best feeling in the world.

"You may have noticed that you heal up pretty quickly with this thing. Well, there's this nine lives rule."

"Nine lives, really?" Victoria couldn't control the sarcastic undertone that came out with the words.

"Yep. Every time you get hit in the heart or the head, it's another life down," he informed her, "So, how many times have you been hit?"

"Once – I think – in the heart."

"Yeah, well, I want you to be more careful, and I want you to keep this," Fury said as he placed the amulet on the table, "I want you to familiarise yourself with the necklace and its abilities before I send you on any sort of mission. But don't try to pull anything or you'll face a shock much worse than you did today." And with that he left the room.

* * *

After Victoria finished reading through the file, she started to head back to her room only to hear a low grumble coming from her stomach. For a moment, she almost forgot that food was one of the key aspects of survival. Making a full one-eighty turn, she headed to the kitchen.

As she turned the corner to the kitchen, the first thing she noticed was the familiar metal armed man who asphyxiated her until she almost passed out. The same man whose arm she broke and also replaced pretending she knew nothing about it. Victoria contemplated turning back not wanting to know what would happen next but sided against it. Although she did wonder if she should greet him or not but before she could decide, he had caught her eye and looked away not a second later. So that's a 'no' to the greeting, got it. Victoria made her way to the kitchen pantry and commenced to look through the various items of food hoping to find something pre-prepared so she could leave sooner than later. She could practically feel the tension in the air.

The silence was interrupted by a noise from the other side of the kitchen. Steve. Thank God he was here.

"Hey, Fury wants to see you in the conference room. Both of you," he said standing at the edge of the tiled floor.

"I was literally just in there," Victoria complained.

"Something's come up. He wants to have a briefing."

Victoria rolled her eyes, dropping her task, she started to make her way to the briefing room. Food will just have to wait.

* * *

"We've come upon a new Hydra base in Quebec and I want the two of you to go take a look," Fury said showing Bucky and Victoria a digital map of the area.

Her heart dropped. "Just the two of us?" She questioned.

"It's a small base. Assigning the mission to the whole team would be an unnecessary action."

"Well, why the two of us specifically?" Victoria asked yet another question. She didn't have to have Stark's intellect to know that pairing her up with Bucky would not end well.

"I was there when the two of you were fighting earlier today. It was virtually a stalemate. I believe you two have the potential to work well together."

Victoria scoffed, "And I believe that your beliefs aren't always right."

Fury gave her a hard look but she continued to speak, "Plus, I thought you wanted me to get 'acquainted' with the necklace. I've had it for ten minutes, definitely not acquainted."

"Then you can think of this as an opportunity to get acquainted, Miss Edwards."

"But with him?" She gestured to him, not bothering to spare him a glance.

"I hate to agree with her but she's a lab assistant. She doesn't know anything about field work," Bucky spoke up. Up until then, he had been quietly listening to her bicker with Fury while he furrowed his brows and crossed his arms.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Victoria asked, gritting her teeth.

"It means you're inexperienced and you'll probably get taken out the minute you step out there."

"Oh please," she said sourly, "If I can take out your bionic arm, I can take out a bunch of Hydra agents."

"Yeah, 'cause of that thing hanging around your neck that turns you into a psycho cat mutant. Rip it off, and you're nothing."

"Rip off your arm and you're just a Captain America wannabe." Victoria had started to raised her voice and had fully turned to face him.

"That's enough! Both of you." Fury's voice yelled out over that of Bucky's and Victoria's, "I'm telling you to work together, so you are going to work together. That's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"No," Victoria said eyeing Bucky, "No problem at all."

"Good. You'll leave in the morning."


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: So updates might not come as frequently for a little bit because I have a lot of stuff to do but I'll try my best. Thanks for all the support! xx**

* * *

 _Quebec with Bucky. Perfect, just perfect._

Victoria and Bucky were meant to stay there for an entire week before the extraction team came to take them back. And by that time, they were meant to have shut the Hydra base down. They had landed in Quebec in less than an hour after they had left and Victoria was unimaginably grateful. The flight there was – to say the least – uncomfortable. They didn't say one word to each other. In fact, they didn't even share a glance. It was going to be tough. They still had to figure out how to take the base down and silence really wasn't the best way to communicate ideas, but then again, neither was bickering.

After they had touched down with Fury, the two of them were left completely alone. The taxi ride to the hotel was even more uncomfortable than the flight and it was hard to believe that was even possible. When they arrived at the hotel, they checked in as Emily and William Jones, aliases given to them by Fury. The angle of the relationship between Emily and Will was up to Victoria and Bucky to decide.

As the they stepped inside the elevator that was headed to the tenth floor, Victoria realised another moment of tension was about to ensue and she refused to let that happen.

Sighing, she decided to speak up, "Bucky, I don't know what's gotten into you but you and I both know that we can't do this by fighting and refusing to talk to each other. We don't have much of a choice here and as much as we would both love to turn back and head to the tower, we can't. So let's just suck it up and get this over with."

The elevator doors dinged open and she walked out before Bucky had time to respond.

* * *

Room 107. Victoria had walked in a bit before Bucky did so she headed over to the small couch near the window and placed her bags on the floor next to it. Grabbing her laptop from the main pocket of her duffel bag, she sat herself on the couch and began to read the intel on the Hydra base that Fury had given her.

Bucky walked in a few seconds later, placing his bags near the bed. Getting the chair from the desk next to the couch, he swung it around to face Victoria and placed himself atop it.

"What intel did Fury give you?" Bucky asked, which earned him a surprised glance from Victoria. She didn't really expect Bucky to listen to her little rant that went on in the elevator and if he did end up talking to her, she didn't expect him to be so wonted about it.

Returning her gaze back to the luminescent screen of her computer, she responded, "As far as I've read, the base is more focused on scientific research rather than your standard special ops base."

"Great," Bucky responded, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Actually it is great. I've got a plan," Victoria said, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Which is what exactly?" He asked, furrowing his brows.

"We go undercover as scientists – I'm sure Fury will be able to manage all the technicalities – and we get more intel, stuff we don't already have, and we take it down from the inside."

He nodded slowly, "That's actually not a bad idea, especially coming from you."

"Wait, was that almost a compliment?" Victoria teased, causing him to roll his eyes and get up from his seat, "Where're you going?"

"Gonna take a shower," he called out, heading to the bathroom.

* * *

The faint sound of water hitting the tiled floor of the bathroom bluntly hit Victoria's eardrums as she continued to look through the files. Fury had sent them blueprints of the entire base as well but besides that and the other information that Victoria had already discussed with Bucky, that was pretty much it. A sigh escaped her lips, the only way the two of them were going to get anything done was to follow her plan and go undercover. Closing her laptop and picking up her bag, she headed to the bed placing it on top of the white duvet. Wait, the bed. As in singular. There was only one.

 _Ugh, of course._

An empty silence filled the air as she registered that the pattering of water had stopped.

 _Okay so what's the plan? Convince him to take the couch? I take the couch? We can't get another room; it would drive too much attention towards us._

Victoria paced in the limited area between the wall and the edge of her bed but all her thoughts flew out the window when Bucky came out wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. What was under it was left to her imagination. Victoria glanced away not wanting her stare to linger but she wanted nothing more than to look back.

"There's a problem," she mumbled, looking towards nothing in particular but concentrating very hard on not looking at him.

"What?" He didn't notice her mental struggle.

 _Thank God._

"Um… there's only one bed," Victoria said, moving her gaze to the floor.

"Right," he said in an understanding and somewhat calm tone, "I'll take the couch then."

"Really?" She looked at him, surprised that he was so compliant and completely forgetting that she was avoiding looking at him in the first place. And before she knew it, her eyes were shifting down his body but she swiftly rested it back on his eyes hoping he hadn't noticed.

A small smirk played on his lips before it was quickly wiped away. He nodded and walked towards his bag, grabbing some clothes before heading back into the bathroom. Yep, he noticed.

* * *

About half an hour later, Victoria was showered and changed, laying on the double mattress of the hotel bed talking to Fury over her burner phone. Bucky was resting on the couch, arguing about the aspects of the undercover job with her as Fury listened on.

"It's easier for me to go undercover as a scientist, I have actual scientific experience," she reasoned, looking over at Bucky.

"You have experience being a scientist but you've never even gone undercover before."

"I'll figure it out along the way. Plus, me being a scientist is far more inconspicuous than you going in there with your shiny metal arm. How do you plan on getting that through Hydra's metal detectors, by the way?"

" _Alright, alright. Here's what you're really gonna do,"_ Fury spoke up from over the phone, _"Edwards, you'll go undercover as the scientist."_ Victoria gave Bucky a look of victory before focusing on the call once again, _"Barnes, you'll stay back in the vehicle outside the base, you'll be telling Victoria what to do."_ It was Bucky's turn to give her a look.

Victoria rolled her eyes, "I can handle it-"

" _Don't argue with me, Edwards. You have no experience in espionage, Barnes does. End of discussion."_

She sighed out in defeat, "You said something about a vehicle. We don't have one."

" _I got that covered."_

* * *

Victoria's eyes were forced to open as the sunlight streamed through the large window behind the couch where Bucky had been sleeping on the previous night. As her vision focused, she noticed that there was merely a blanket draped over the couch and Bucky was not present. Furrowing her brows, she turned over in the bed to face the wall only to find Bucky standing next to it, facing the bedside table, lifting up her infamous jade amulet.

"What're you doing?" She rasped out defensively, her voice still groggy from waking up only moments ago.

"Relax, I'm just looking." He placed it back down on the table and walked over to the desk on the other side of the room. He reached over and grabbed a laminated piece of paper and headed back towards her.

"Here," he said handing it to her, "Order."

"What?" She asked, sitting up taking the paper from his grip.

"It's the menu for room service. Order some breakfast so we can get a move on."

"Alright," Victoria mumbled as she read through the breakfast list.

* * *

Twenty minutes had passed and she heard a knock at the door. By this time, she was fully showered and dressed and had begun to dry her hair with a towel as she walked over to answer the door.

"Here's your breakfast Miss Jones, shall I bring it in?" The man behind the food trolley asked.

"Um…" Victoria looked behind her at the room and noticed that there was a handgun on the desk and Bucky was seated on the couch with his left arm fully exposed, the arm he had managed to hide when they had checked in, "No, it's alright, I've got it," she responded as she took the cart and moved it inside.

"What's that?" Bucky asked as the cart came close to his line of sight.

"It's our food." Wasn't that obvious?

He rolled his eyes, "No, I mean what's that?" He asked standing up from his place on the couch and pointing to the lower shelf of the food trolley. Victoria shifted her gaze to see what he was pointing at to find a black duffel placed on it.

"That's not at all suspicious," she said as she moved over to pick it up.

"Wait," Bucky stopped her, "Let me do it."

Victoria's forehead creased, "What, you don't trust me to lift a bag now?"

"It's just a precaution. In case it's a bomb," Bucky said as he lifted it up carefully and placed it on the edge of the bed.

"Nice to know you care so much," Victoria muttered, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

He slowly unzipped the bag to find a neatly folded black suit.

"What is that?" He asked, drawing his brows together.

Victoria scoffed under her breath, "That's my suit."

* * *

She had taken out the contents of the bag which not only included a new and improved suit and mask, but two handguns as well as extra magazines, a key card, Bucky's own suit and a pair of keys.

Victoria was still examining her suit when her burner phone rang out.

" _Do you like it?"_ Fury asked once she had answered.

"Like it? I couldn't happier."

" _That's good to know. The suit's made from a variation of Kevlar and while your steel claws were a good effort, these ones are made from a titanium alloy, much stronger."_

"Wow, thank you."

" _Thank Stark. Now, is Barnes there?"_

Victoria looked over at Bucky who was watching her from the edge of the bed as he loaded up the guns, "Yeah he is, hold on," she said as she handed him the small phone.

"Hello?" Bucky said, putting the phone on speaker.

" _Barnes, I hope you got everything I sent. The keys are for the white FedEx van parked outside your hotel, you'll find it's equipped to your liking. I've set up a key card for Victoria so she can get in and out of the base."_ Bucky looked at her as Fury said this, _"I want the two of you to be careful. If anything goes wrong, Barnes, I want you to step in. Other than that, you stay in the car. Understood?"_

"Got it," Bucky responded in a low voice.

" _Good luck."_

* * *

After they had ended the call with Fury, Victoria and Bucky made their way downstairs and out to the van. Fury had packed the back of it with a bunch of weapons as well as a couple of communication devices.

Bucky drove the car to the base while Victoria sat in the passenger seat reading her alias file. She was going undercover as Emily Jones, a biophysicist. She was supposed to get as much as intel she could, intel that she didn't already have. Bucky would be speaking to her from a coms device in her ear, she had glasses which would enable him to see what she saw and the button on her blouse would allow him to hear what she did. He also had access to any security cameras around the premises so he could monitor the area around her.

Bucky came to a halt on a side street next to a giant skyscraper.

"This is it?" Victoria asked, staring up at the building from the window.

"Yep."

She sighed, taking her necklace out from the front pocket of her jeans and began to put it on. She looked up after it was secured around her neck to find Bucky staring down at the amulet.

"Hey, my eyes are up here," she joked only to have him look up at her with a look that she couldn't quite place, "What's wrong?" She asked, her smile now a grimace.

"Nothing, you should go."

"Yeah, okay," Victoria agreed hesitantly as she slipped out of the vehicle and headed towards the building.

* * *

She hated to admit it but she was nervous. She was nervous about infiltrating a Hydra base. She was nervous about getting caught. She was nervous Bucky would hate her even more if she did get caught. Nerves are good, except when you're supposed to be acting like it's any other day at your ordinary-yet-not-so-ordinary job.

 _Calm down, Victoria. You have got this._ She mentally prepped herself.

Stepping in front of the automatic double glass doors, she walked right in. A burly security guard was stationed at the front desk instead of your classic secretary. They really did mean business. Doing her best to be casual, she made her way to the glass elevators that were situated diagonally to the left of the security guard. She walked as quickly as she could, still looking inconspicuous while the guard watched her with wary eyes. He obviously knew all of the people that worked in the building, he must've watched them come and go every day, so a new face would unavoidably grab his attention.

Victoria made it to the elevator without a single question asked and boy, was she glad. Once she had stepped inside, she scanned her key card – the very same one that Fury had provided her with – and let the elevator take her to her destination.

When she was safely up and moving, she heard the familiar voice of Bucky Barnes in her ear, _"Stop being so jumpy."_

"I'm not jumpy," Victoria whispered as if someone other than Bucky was listening in on her.

 _Yes, you are, liar._ She scolded herself.

Victoria heard him sigh through the earpiece, _"Alright, just calm down. Take a breath. Pretend like this is…"_ He trailed off trying to think of a situation to parallel the one she was currently facing, _"Pretend this is your first day working for Stark."_

She let out a bitter laugh, "As if that's gonna help. I was so nervous that day I wore three layers just so I wouldn't sweat through my clothes."

Before he could reply, the elevator had reached the eleventh floor and opened up to a petite woman in a lab coat.

She turned out to be an astrophysicist from the main lab on one of the upper floors, who went by the name Joanne Parks and she was assigned to help Victoria get settled in. Much to Victoria's surprise, Joanne was just as chipper and excited as John had been on her first day at Stark Industries. The lab was just as brightly lit – Victoria had expected the rooms to be lit like an Indiana Jones tomb – and it gave her a strange sense of déjà vu. She found it strange how two completely opposite factions of a war can be so different and so eerily similar all at the same time. Joanne showed Victoria around the lab and how there was a hierarchy system set up around the entire Hydra base. She then told Victoria what she would be doing and it made her feel sick to her core. Building a biological weapon might not seem _totally_ bad but doing it for Hydra, that's another story. Victoria was given a desk where she would do all the written work and a station where she could do everything that was hands-on.

* * *

It had been about half-an-hour since Joanne had left her alone and she had occupied herself with some schematics of the proposed biological weapon.

She looked around the area and noticed that everyone was busy doing their own work which gave her a good opportunity to talk to Bucky, "Hey, do you see this?" She whispered, talking about the blueprints before her eyes.

" _Yep, I'm taking pictures as you speak."_

Victoria made a sound of approval as she continued observing the plans. "I think I should go for a walk, you know, scope out the place?"

There was no response from the other end but she assumed Bucky had heard and made her way out of the lab. Victoria started making turns here and there and before she knew it, she was deeper in the building than she had intended to be.

But she kept on putting one foot in front of the other, walking slowly down the empty corridors until she came across a door. This door wasn't like the other ones. It wasn't made of glass or regular steel. No, this thing was bulky and had a keyhole much larger than the others. Not to mention the engraved sign on it that read 'Authorized Personnel Only'.

"Hey, I found a door."

" _And?"_ She heard Bucky ask her through the earpiece.

"And it's not like the other ones. It's different."

" _Okay, where are you?"_

Victoria looked around to see where she was and realised she had no clue whatsoever. "I have no idea."

" _You're lost?"_

"I'm not lost, I'm just… Misplaced." She cringed at her pathetic comeback and then attempted to put the badly phrased words at the back of her mind. She needed to get back to the lab before anyone had noticed she had gone missing. She wasn't awfully good at lying so the best plan was not to get caught at all.

" _You're misplaced?"_ It was hard to tell if he was confused or amused but she decided to ignore his question completely.

"I think I came from over there," Victoria said walking to her left, "Or maybe it was over there," she said switching directions.

" _How did you even get lost?"_

"I don't know, Bucky. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that all the walls here are coloured grey and every damn thing looks the same. And it's not like I can just follow the yellow-brick road."

" _Sorry I asked."_

"You know you could help by pulling up the map of the building that Fury sent us."

" _They're not going to be much use if you don't know where you are in the first place, doll."_

Victoria wanted to be happy that he finally called her 'doll' again – it was a step forward – but the thought of being caught in an unauthorized area of the building was the most prominent idea in her mind. She decided she should at least try to find her way back so she chose to go left.

After about five minutes of aimlessly wondering about and Bucky asking her if she had made her way back to the correct path, she saw a shadow at the end of the hallway she was at.

"Bucky, I think someone's coming," she whispered, making a half turn and heading back the way she came from.

" _Shit,"_ Victoria heard him curse under his breath, _"Okay, just act casual, like you're meant to be there and walk right past them, got it?"_

She nodded in response, knowing that Bucky could see her from the camera that was prominent from the end of the hallway.

Victoria spun back around on her heel and with her chest up and shoulders back, she headed in the direction of the shadow.

As she got closer and closer to it, a tall man with an athletic build turned the corner. The two of them made brief eye contact before she took her gaze away. She didn't even get a chance to walk past him as he grabbed her arm the moment she was within reach.

"What're you doing here?" The man asked, a slightly confused expression taking place on his features.

" _Remember, play it casual."_ Bucky said into her ear.

"What're _you_ doing here?" Victoria asked in a defensive tone and she was almost one hundred percent sure Bucky would've shot himself in the leg just so he wouldn't have to come and help the idiotic girl who couldn't lie to _literally_ save her own life.

The man chuckled at this but it wasn't at all menacing, "Look, my name's Liam, I work at the lab, like you."

 _What the hell? How did he know? Do I look like a stereotypical lab assistant?_

Liam noticed her expression and began to explain himself within a few seconds, "Um, look I'm actually kind of your boss. You've been gone for quite a bit so I came out to find you."

 _Shit. Why is it always me?_

"Oh." The fear in Victoria's eyes was evident, "Am I… Am I in trouble?"

"Oh no, this happens all the time, especially to the new lab assistants considering the size of the building and all. Yeah, they go off looking for the bathroom and before you know it, they're gone for a whole hour. You were looking for the bathroom, right?"

Victoria nodded slowly, amazed at how smoothly that went down. How she managed to get out of _that_ situation, blew her mind.

Liam led her back to the lab and soon enough she was seated back at her desk Bucky's voice in her ear once more, _"You good?"_

"Yeah," she replied in a soft voice knowing she was being watched much closer now.


End file.
